The Post-War Remix
by Thousandsmiles
Summary: After the war, Rey takes Ben Solo/Kylo Ren and runs and together they leave everything behind including the newly defeated First Order and the newly arisen Republic. Or the one where Rey spirits away Kylo Ren, steals Chewy's ship (slightly), gets a pet and a make-over and incidentally finds some peace. Sequel to Conversations.
1. Chapter 1

**So here is the second part to the Leave Everything Behind series. I hope you all enjoy. It's a slice-of-life, slow-burn sort of thing.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars.**

* * *

"What is it with you men with Skywalker blood?" Rey raged as she ripped of parts of her tunic. "Did you have to lose a hand?" Ren coughs out a laugh in the midst of his pain.

"I guess I inherited that particular curse," he says, voice ragged with pain. Rey binds his stump hurriedly. "Be glad you don't have any family to inherit any from."

"What are talking about?" she says, "I inherited Chewy."

Kylo breaks out in gasping laughter. "Never tell him that," he says.

Rey gives him a tight smile and finishes bandaging his arm. "Come on," she says. "Get up."

He struggles to his feet with her help, face screwed up as he tries to keep from crying out. They hobble quickly towards the Falcon. Rey needs to get him out of here, before the celebration of finally winning over the First Order winds down and the baying for his blood can start up.

They make good time, Ren is good at handling pain, but they still aren't fast enough to escape BB-8. The little droid rolls over to them chirping furiously.

"No please!" Rey pleads even as she hustles them to the ship. "BB-8 please. Don't tell them."

The little droid pauses, unsure, being swayed by Rey's pleading voice. It rolls after them and then finally comes in front of them and makes menacing overtures towards Kylo. Rey starts to talk but Ben beats her to it.

"I won't hurt her," he tells the droid. He locks eyes with his camera and says again, slowly. "I won't hurt her."

There was another pause and then the droid rolls out their way.

"Thank you!" Rey tells him. She gets him to the ship and lets him sit on the ramp. "Can you do me a favor BB-8?" The droid chirps in affirmative. "Record some messages for me," she said, "and give them to them when I'm gone." The droid chirps again and his lens flash.

"Chewy," Rey says to the camera, "I'm sorry. I'll stash the Falcon somewhere safe and send you a message to tell you where she is. You were an amazing co-pilot, thank you so much."

The message ends another begins. "To Finn and Poe, thank you. I wouldn't have never been who I am today without you all. Finn and Poe you were some of the best friends I've ever had and the best people I've had at my back. Thank you everything. I love you and I'll miss you."

She tries to say something else but her voice chokes so she waves at BB-8 to end the message. "Goodbye my friend," she says to the tiny droid. She drops a kiss on his head and then turns and helps Kylo into the ship. The door close and she can see BB-8 rolling away back to wherever Poe might be.

She situates Kylo in the med bay and begins the start up protocols. Several squawks sound from the med bay and a startled "What?!" follows.

"Porg1 leave him alone," she calls. Imaginative she and Chewy are not. "Actually, sit on him and make sure he doesn't move."

"What is this?" Ben asks.

"It's a porg," she calls back as the ship lifts. "They're very valuable crew members. Brace yourself," she added and sent them into lightspeed.

She waits until she's sure that they can't be followed and then heads down to the med bay. Kylo's stump is being cared for, the tiny droids closing up all the parts that aren't cauterized already.

"So what do you plan to do now?" he asks her.

"Follow a time-honored tradition," she replies, "and get you a new arm." He huffs out a soft laugh.

"Alright," he agrees. "Especially since you cut off my old one."

"I really thought you'd dodge that," she said, apologetically.

"How, exactly, was I supposed to dodge that?" he says raising an eyebrow.

"I've seen you dodge worse!" Rey protests.

Ben gives her a look and she wilts. "I am sorry," she says softly.

He sighs. "I know." He holds out his remaining hand to her and she takes it.

* * *

They have the choice of getting a black-market doc to do it or an actual doctor. Finally after much deliberation, they settle on a real doctor. It's something that will be with Ben for the rest of his life, better get it done properly.

It of course takes some finesse. The whole galaxy is looking for Kylo Ren and Rey herself isn't spared. She might be a hero of the Republic but she let its greatest villain escape.

They end up by a small but reputable practice and Kylo opts to keep his hood on and to pay the doctor an exorbitant amount of credits. Rey to keeps her face shadowed but when Ren says he'll do the surgery awake, and without anesthesia she steps in.

"No," she says.

Ren's hood tilts in her direction and she can feel the glare emanating from it.

"Give us a moment," she murmurs to the doctor. The doctor leaves and she leans in and whispers next to his ear.

"Don't you trust me to keep watch?"

"I trust you," he murmurs back, "But they may send more than you can handle."

"I can handle it," Rey tells him. He starts to protest but she silences him. "I can handle it," she repeats firmly. "They're not getting you."

He tilts his head until they lock eyes and she bears his intense scrutiny for a long moment. Then he nods.

"Fine."

Rey calls back the doctor and he sets to work. It's done soon enough although Rey spends most of that time in a hyperactive state. The whole galaxy knows by now that Kylo Ren lost a hand in the last fight. She does not doubt the doctor has probably guessed who his patient is and she hopes he hasn't turned them in.

The doctor doesn't, but the look he gives her when they leave, tells her that it is for her, that he didn't do it. He trusts her to know what she is doing. Rey hopes fervently that she does.

* * *

Ben spends the few days she's looking for a safe place to stash the Falcon, getting used to his new hand. She finally finds a place, stashes it safely and sends a message to Chewie via Maz. All the porgs , Porgs 2 through 5, remain on board with enough food save for Porg1 who insists on coming with them. She makes Ben carry him.

* * *

 _ **I am a review junkie writer. Please please feed my addiction!**_


	2. Chapter 2

**I hope you all enjoy! Thanks to everyone who read and reviewed!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars.**

* * *

The next order of business is to change their appearance. She attacks Ben's hair with a shaver, much to his horror and cuts his hair down short and then dyes it a rich brown. Her own dark hair goes blond and short, though long enough that she can tie it back if she wishes. But Ben is still recognizable, comes from being the most wanted person in the galaxy so they have to take more extreme measures for him.

"We don't have enough money for the tech and the procedure," Rey says as she pokes at the terminal. The tech in question is tiny implants that, over the course of a couple weeks, alters the wearer's face into someone else. Ben leans over her shoulder to watch the terminal and then says:

"Can we afford the tech alone?"

Rey pokes at the screen and then nods. "Yes but…" she trails off when she realizes what he means to do. "Ben no!"

He looks at her, eyes dark and hooded. "What choice do we have?"

* * *

They buy the tech.

Then Ray sits with a salvaged scanner trained on him while he levitates the implants in front of his face. The implants look like tiny balls but no matter how small they are, they will still hurt going in.

"Okay," she says her voice shaky. "When you're ready."

"Ready," he says, voice far steadier than hers. Then he uses the force to push the implants into his face. It hurts. She knows it hurts even though Ben is not uttering a sound, yet still his concentration doesn't waver.

"Okay the one on the far right has to go two millimeters down," she directs, eyes trained on the scanner. The tiny ball shifts into position and then Rey directs him how to position the others.

When they're all done he drops his hand and slumps, gasping. Rey drops the scanner and puts her arms around his shoulders to steady him.

"Ben? Ben? Are you alright?"

"Fine," he rasps. His pain threshold as usual is incredible. Rey fetches the medical kit and patches up his face. What extra money they had left had gone into them buying the best kit they possible could so the wounds seal over just fine. She wipes the blood of his face gently doing her best not to hurt him more. When she's finished he lies down in his bed in the room they've rented. Rey sits on the ground next to him and rests her and on his shoulder until he drifts off to an exhausted sleep.

* * *

They keep moving until the tech has restructured Ben's face. It's odd Rey acknowledges, to look at him and see someone else but she knows it has to have been even stranger for him. More than once she's seen him catch a glimpse of his reflection in a mirror and do a minor doubletake.

But once it's done, they head off planet to somewhere remote. They barely have any credits left so they work their way there. Rey is a great engineer and they're both fantastic pilots and that gets them far away enough from the republic and lands them on a small Outer Rim world.

Ironically the first job they end up with is scavenging. Ren looks like he wants to laugh at their predicament but by dint of rarely seen self-control, doesn't. Rey joins a scavenger team for a cut of whatever they manage to find and Ben joins a small coalition of pilots that transport the scavengers' goods to and from the field and the markets. They don't earn much credits but it's not as bad as it was on Jakku and with two of them working, they even manage to save some.

Ben's skin slowly loses his pallor, becoming tanned in the sun. Rey collects more callouses and tiny electrical burns. In the nights, far from the camps, they spar against each other. It's too dangerous to bring out lightsabers but pieces of wood work just as well. Kylo turns out to be proficient in using a staff as well and he teaches Rey how to use hers more effectively. He also gets far more comfortable with his prosthetic than he'd been before.

"Do you regret it?" she asks one night as they're sitting outside the tiny trailer they've claimed as their own.

"Regret what?" he asks, eyes trained on the horizon where the last gleam of the sun still lingers.

"This," she says. "It's far from luxurious."

He tilts his head to look at her. "No," he said. "Luxury doesn't mean anything to me."

Porg1 comes chirping out the trailer and Rey lifts him into her lap. "Hello there," she says.

Ben feeds the little creature a bit of his rations and then Porg1 settles on Rey's shoulder and goes to sleep leaning against her head. She sees the corner of Ben's mouth twitch into a smile and then he says, softly:

"I don't regret this, Rey."

"Me either," she says just as softly.

* * *

 _ **Review and tell me what you think!**_

 _ **Have a nice day/night**_


	3. Chapter 3

**Hope you all enjoy! Thanks so much to those who have read and reviewed! This chapter references chapter 4 in Conversations so if you haven't read that it may seem a little strange.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars.**

* * *

There is a party a few months after they have settled on Kreat and when they're invited, Ben glances sidelong at her, lips twitching into a half-smile.

"Shut up!" she murmurs to him.

"Are you going to go?" he asks her, amused.

"Yes," she says out of pride. She still hasn't quite managed to like parties, though she likes spending time with her friends.

"Alright," Ben drawls softly. The laugh is all in his eyes now. Rey shoves him and he shoves back. She shoves him again and takes off running. He lets out a startled bark of laughter and runs after her. She manages to get to the trailer first and slams the door shut on him.

"Rey!" he calls. "Dammit Rey open the door!"

"Password!" she calls back, laughing at him.

"What?" he says in pure confusion.

"What's the password?" she asks.

"If you don't open this door right now I'm going to rip it off its hinges!" he growls.

"Ding, ding, ding!" she chimes and opens the door. He blinks at her in utter confusion once more.

"What?!" he asks almost a little helplessly. It's sad, she thinks how clear it is that he's never had friends. She is almost profoundly grateful for Finn and Poe and all the silly, trivial nonsense they had gotten up to in their down time.

"Get inside," she smiles.

He shakes his head at her and walks in. She has a moment to think she's free from retaliation when he flicks his fingers and Rey skids back a few feet. He dashes for the tiny bathroom and gets inside before she can reach him.

"Not fair!" she shouts, and bangs once on the door. She hears his deep chuckle and then the shower is running.

* * *

She thinks he's forgotten all about the party but a few days later on their lunch break he tilts his head and asks, "Are you still going to the party?"

Rey scowls at him. "I said I would go, didn't I?"

"Alright," he drawls again and Rey feels like smacking him.

* * *

Happily, the party is more like a fete. There is music, finger foods, drinks and dancing but people lounge at tables simply enjoying the company. It's very relaxed, nothing too loud and fast and Rey relaxes a bit. Ren, at her side, is amused but he leans to speak in her ear.

"Do you want to dance or just mingle?"

Considering Rey isn't the best at dancing, she replies, "Just mingle. Unless you want to dance?"

Ben shrugs. "I'll see. Let's get something to drink."

They both choose something nonalcoholic since they're supposed to be in disguise and one slip up could alert everyone as to who they are.

Rey finds a table filled with people who work on scavenger runs with her and settles down to talk with them. Ben joins her for some time before migrating over to the pilots he knows. Sometime later when Rey looks for him, she finds him on the dance floor, dancing with one of the scavengers' younger daughter.

It's nothing so formal as when he danced with her and he was telling her straight when he said he was very graceful. The music is much faster and the pair are clearly having fun. Rey watching them smiled to see him enjoy himself in a way he probably hasn't done for years, if ever.

When he finally collapses back at her table she hands him a drink and he takes it, his eyes sparkling in a way that makes him look so very young.

"Someone had fun," she teases and Ben just laughs softly and sips from his cup.

When they finally leave the party, it's late but the party is still going. They walk back to their trailer and Rey opens the door to let Porg1 out while Ben drags their chairs outside. They're both too wound up still to sleep. Porg1 happily greets them and Rey feeds him all the food she smuggled from the party. He gobbles it up greedily and falls asleep in her lap. Rey smooths back his feathers and carries him to his little nest of blankets inside the trailer.

She settles back in her chair next to Ben and they both just stare at the horizon, taking in the cool night with the music filtering softly from the party in the distance.

"Was it a happy memory?" he asks, voice soft as if he doesn't want to break the beauty of the night.

Rey smiles at the echoes of his words. "Yes. I'm glad I went."

"Good," he said, looking over at her. She smiles back at him and they return to watching the night in peaceful silence. After a while though Rey stretches.

"I'm still wound up," she said. Ben glances at her and then gets up and holds his hand out to her. She blinks up at him and his lips twitch but he doesn't say anything. After a moment she takes his hand and he tugs her up and pulls her in close to him.

She rests a hand on his back while his slides around her waist and they join their free hands. He pauses for a moment listening to the faint music and then gets them moving in time to the beat.

It's slow but relaxing and she doesn't step on his feet so much this time.

"You're better," he murmurs.

"And you're hearing the music this time," she says.

She feels his amusement more than sees it and they waltz under the stars until the music finally ends for the night. Rey reluctantly stops as the music ends and for a moment they both just stand there. Looking at him, at the peaceful, happy look in his eyes, Rey wishes that this moment can last forever.

"The best memory," she breathes and he looks down at her startled and then a smile slides across his face like a sunrise breaking the horizon.

"The very best," he murmurs resting his forehead against hers.

* * *

 _ **I hope you all enjoyed! Tell me what you think!**_

 _ **Have a nice day/night!**_


	4. Chapter 4

**Hope you all enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars.**

* * *

Trouble finds them through an oblique avenue. Sometimes the pilots which Ben works with, take outside contracts, carrying passengers from one camp to another. One of the guys got a contract but was actually unable to carry it out himself so he offered it to the others. Being that they were planning on getting a ship someday Ben volunteered for it.

On the morning of the job, Ben and Rey are in camp, Ben waiting for the passengers and Rey gathering the things she needs for her scavenger trip. She is almost finished when the passengers come in, talking loudly to some of the locals.

It only takes a few comments for them to realize that they are ex-republic fighters, striking out for something new. Rey exchanges a startled look with Ben who warns her to calm with a twitch of his fingers. She does, knowing that they will not recognize him anymore and continues to get her gear. She has just stowed the last piece when one of the ex-rebels bursts out:

"I don't care! If I ever find him I'll kill him. I know he must be hiding pretty well, or the republic would have found him, but I'll never get his voice out of my mind. I know how he sounds and if I hear him I'll know him."

Rey and Ben exchange a look. Neither of them doubts that the ex-rebel can do just that, Rey still has Snoke's voice embedded in her mind.

"Go," she says under her breath, "I'll carry them."

"Won't they know you?" he murmurs back.

"No," says Rey, "I have some tricks up my sleeve and I don't know them either. Go. Now. I'll make up something."

He struggles, clearly not wanting to leave her in a situation that might pose dangerous but she sears him a look. "I can take care of myself," she hisses.

His eyes lighten. "I know." He turns and strides off and Rey makes her way over to her group coordinator to tell her the change of plans.

"What happened?" she asks and listens sympathetically as Rey explains that Ben had come down with a sudden illness and had to return home.

Rey picks up her load of passengers and flies them to the next camp taking care not to look at them too much or speak much either. When she does speak, she has deepened her voice and added a guttural edge to it, while speaking in the local cant.

The job is pulled off without a hitch but when she returns home it's to find Ben putting the finishing touches on his packing.

"What?" she says.

"Someone is going to put together what they said to the fact that I left. If I had never come to camp, maybe we'd have gotten away with it," he says. "But I'm not willing to take that chance. We have to leave. I've already transferred our credits to another account."

Rey wants to tell him he's being paranoid but also knows she's not going to stop him from leaving. She breathes out slowly and then says, "You need to transfer the credits from the job then." He nods slowly and Rey could see something in his shoulders relax. He'd been prepared for a fight.

Rey moves to pack her meager belongings while he transfers the credits. She finishes by the time Ben has managed to catch Porg1 who apparently didn't want to leave. Ben soothes the tiny creature by running his hand over it's head a couple times and Rey finds a little tidbit to feed him. Porg1 settles down and when night falls they both sneak their way out to the spaceport.

They left a note at camp to tell them where the missing ship they had borrowed, was and parked the ship in an actual hanger to ensure no one steals it. Then they set about finding a ship to get off world. They find a cargo ship getting ready to ship of and with their combined skills and a little help from both sides of the force, they find themselves tucked in the underbelly of the ship in a rarely used maintenance tunnel that existed for engineers to fix their ships in the event something went wrong. Rey dearly hoped nothing went wrong in this part of the ship or that if it did, she could fix it fast enough so that no one came down to investigate.

As the ship lifts off Kreat, Rey feels a little pang. They'd been happy there. She and Ben were sitting, hunched a little bit in the small space, shoulders pressed together because Porg1 was stretched across their laps. Their bags lay to either side of them. They sat in near silence for hours until Ben says, "I can't feel my back anymore."

Rey shifts slightly and then admits. "I can't feel mine either."

They relapse back into silence until Porg1 gets up and demands food. Rey takes out a tiny bit of ration and feeds it to him. Porg1 looks at her with wide eyes but Rey resists. They're going to be stuck here for a week at least. They have to ration their rations.

When down cycle arrives again Rey and Ben stretch out in the tunnel, heads together feet stretching in opposite directions in the tunnel while Porg1 flutters around trying to decide who should have the pleasure of his company. He finally settles down on Ben's chest and then spends the next few hours ensuring Ben doesn't get any sleep by pecking at him in random intervals.

It is, to say the least, a long week.

* * *

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	5. Chapter 5

**I hope you all enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars.**

* * *

By the time they land in another Outer Rim world, they're both sick of each other and Porg1. They get off the ship and instantly spit up to go find showers and to explore a bit.

Porg1 comes with her and Rey uses her tiny ration of water to wash him off too. When they're both clean, they head of to find something to eat. Rey isn't picky. Living on rations for most of her life has her mouth watering at pretty much anything that looked edible to her.

Porg1 however was a bit more fastidious so she had to carry him to four stalls before he found something he would eat. When they've both had their full, they head to the large monument in the distance that she and Ben had agreed on for a meeting place.

He is already there when she strolls up, hair blowing in the wind, and looking remarkably at ease. He's sitting on one of the little benches that surrounds the monument, a leg crooked, shoe resting on the seat. Rey joins him and Porg1 hops from her arms and onto Ben's lap.

"We got out in time," Ben says.

"What?" she asked.

"I checked a terminal," he said. "The morning after we left, people went to our trailer, before they found the note we left. We'll have to leave this planet. They know that it's the most likely place we'd have gone to since no other ships were leaving at that time."

"Damn it," Rey breathes.

"We have better chances here," Ben assures her. "A lot more traffic so it's easier to hide our tracks."

"Alright," said Rey. "When do we leave?"

"In a couple of hours," he says. "We should stock up on rations."

* * *

They spend the next four months travelling incognito on cargo ships and freighters, hopping from ship to ship until their route is hopelessly entangled to anyone trailing them. By the time they finally settle down on some Middle Rim world, Rey is thoroughly sick of ships and space and porgs and guys named Ben or Kylo or whatever the hell his name is on any given day. She doesn't feel so guilty about feeling that way when both of them look like they feel the same way about her.

If they had traveled in normal berths, she was sure they wouldn't be feeling like this but having to not leave a trace behind them, had forced them to live in cramped spaces much like the maintenance tunnel on their first ship and that took a toll on anyone.

It takes a couple of days for them to find jobs. Neither of them land a pilot's job this time. Rey is a server in a club that still uses people instead of droids and Ben is a bouncer for a club of rather unreputable renown.

Neither job is easy and the hours are long but they're both used to hard work and they've both trained to withstand harsher conditions than these. Ben switches their remaining credits to another account and by dint of much budgeting, they hope to start saving again.

They barely actually see each other, both their shifts having them coming when the other is going. The most they do is work out a schedule between them both to make sure Porg1 is fed. But one day Rey is carrying a tray of empty glasses back to the kitchens when she feels the touch of connection.

She spins to find Ben standing behind her. He blinks in surprise and then says, "Hi."

"Hi," says Rey and then remembers her tray. "I have to go put this," she says.

"Of course," he says.

"Where are you?" she asks as she makes her way to the kitchen.

"Still on shift," he says, "I'm coming off in half an hour."

"Right," says Rey. She sometimes can't keep his schedule straight along with hers. "Well I'm just starting."

"I know," he says. Then something on his side catches his attention. "I have to go," he says. The connection doesn't fade but he strides off, no doubt to deal with something or the other. Rey turns her attention back to her job so she doesn't get fired.

* * *

Rey is sleeping after a long shift when something comes bouncing on her back. She's turned around and has her blaster pointed at whatever it is until she realizes that it's Porg1. Movement at the door has her swinging the blaster that way. Ben stops stock still in the door. Rey slowly lowers the blaster and he strides forward.

"Sorry," he murmured, gathering up Porg1 who chirps in protest, "He got into my caf."

"Ouch," murmurs Rey. Porg1 hopped up on caf is not what she wants to see. Ben takes Porg1 away and closes her door.

Rey tries to go back to sleep only to realize she's thirsty. With a sigh she gets up and head for the kitchen. She stops when she realizes that Ben's solution for entertaining a hyper-active Porg1 is to levitate several treats above the kitchen table and have Porg1 try to catch them as they slowly zoom over the table surface. He doesn't notice her until she snickers and then he flushes a little and brings his cup of caf up to hide his face as he takes a sip.

Rey patters over to get her drink of water and Ben offers, "Caf?" She shakes her head.

"No, I'm going back to sleep." She notices the cup of caf in the sink and says, "What happened to that one?"

"That's the one Porg1 got into," he said. "It tastes odd now."

Rey blinks. "You still drank it?"

Ben shrugs. "It might have still been okay."

Rey resigns herself to never understanding men, gets her drink of water and patters back to her room to sleep. "Night Ben, Porg1."

A cheerful chirp and a soft murmur greets her ears in reply and then she's back asleep.

* * *

She's on a break when that touch of connection lets her know she's not alone. Ben is not paying attention to her, instead he's blocking something, someone, by the way his body is held. The person is trying to bully their way past him but Kylo is standing there, darkness gathered in his eyes and not budging an inch even as the person crowds him, towering his bulk over Kylo's much smaller frame. She can tell whoever it is, is taller because of how Kylo's head is tilted up to look at the person.

The person tries to swat him away but Ben ducks, comes back up, grabs the extended arm and kicks out at the troublemaker's feet. She can see who it is not because Kylo is holding him. It's a large alien of some sort Rey has never seen before. The alien loses his footing and with a few quick moves, Kylo has him on the floor face down, fingers dug warningly on the back of his neck.

The alien freezes and then Kylo levels a freezing glare of to the side so she knows that the alien must have friends or compatriots with him. Since Kylo doesn't move to avoid them she guess they must have thought better of attacking him. She's pretty sure there is no doubt in their minds that this man can and will kill all of them. They back away and then Ben has some deceptively pleasant words with the alien he is casually pinning down. The alien replies something and then Ben lets him up and he scrambles up and he and his friends most likely flee the area.

"Exciting night?" she asks when Kylo just stands there for a minute breathing deeply as he fought to control his temper.

"Less than usual," he replies carelessly but his shoulders relax and he makes his way back to the doorway he's guarding. "Aren't you supposed to be working?"

"I'm on my break," she says.

"I see," he says.

They spend the rest of their connected time in companionable silence until the connection fades. Rey checks her chronometer to see her break is up and heads back to work, feeling oddly refreshed.

* * *

 _ **Tell me what you think!**_


	6. Chapter 6

**I hope you all enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars.**

* * *

They move from that planet to another one, spend all of two days there and then move on again. They don't spend that much time on the second planet either because they get jobs on a cargo ship that looks like it operates on the shady side of the law and needs an engineer and a back up pilot. It's back in space again but they have real berths this time and something to do with their time so it's not so bad.

On the times when they both have down cycle at the same time, they gather in the tiny observatory and watch the stars flying past at light speed. It's strangely mesmerizing. They don't talk much then, not that they ever truly talk much at other times but they're especially quiet then, just soaking up the sights and the company. Sometimes she tilts her head and watches Ben watch the stars. There's something in his face that tells her he truly loves them, loves being out here in the black, loves screaming through space in a ship. But it's a subtle love. She's not even sure he knows it himself. But she likes to see it reflected in his eyes as he gazes at the stars streaming past.

* * *

They finally settle down for a bit on another Outer Rim world. They don't have much as usual; it's hard living on the move, much harder Rey realizes than staying put. But they get a tiny place and then Rey drags them out to explore. She loves landing in new worlds and seeing new places. It's always so incredible to see the different ways people go about doing things.

They walk around for a bit when Rey spots what looks like a bargain market. It's a whole block of stalls crammed together, teeming with crowds of people bargaining for everything and anything under the sun. Her face lights up and she hurriedly grabs Ben's hand and tugs at him.

"I want to go."

Ben resists, his face careful mask that concealed his horror at the thought of forcing his way through the crowds. Rey tugs at his hand and he tugs back. They end up in a locked standstill, leaning all their weight on their heels, attempting to drag the other person forward until they realize people are staring at them strangely.

They hurriedly regain their balance and then Rey says, "Porg1 give him porg eyes!"

Ben has enough time to say, "Wha?" before Porg1 has widened his eyes and turned down his mouth to give the most sorrowful look ever. His eyes even fill up with tears.

Ben lets out a small gasp of laughter before he schools his face but the edges of his mouth are still turning up, no matter how serious he tries to be.

"Fine," he says. Porg1 instantly drops the look and begins chittering at them. Ben shakes his head and then hooks his arm through hers. "Lead on Rey."

They take pretty much forever to go through the market. Rey is ecstatic, flitting from one stall to another.

"Have you ever felt anything so fine?" she asked feeling a piece of silk.

Ben brushes it with a fingertip and says, "Finer actually."

She huffs at him and drags him forward to the other stall. Then she realizes the one next to it is selling ship parts and she dives over to it, dragging Ben, and Porg1 with her. She loses track of how long she stands there talking to the vendor when she catches a look between Ben and Porg1, which said 'help me' on both their faces. Then the vendor mentioned some other thing she didn't know about and Ben snapped to attention. He began to speak to the vendor as well while Porg1 shot him a look that said, 'traitor.'

They finally left the stall and were continuing their way through the market when someone snatched Porg1 off Rey's shoulder and disappeared into the crowd. Rey and Ben stand stock still for half a second in pure amazement before they're dashing after the thief.

All of sudden the crowds seem to be against them. Rey feels like she'd moving through jelly. Kylo is better at it, strategically using elbows and palms to get people out of his way. Still it's not fast enough and they lose sight of the man and Porg1.

"Ben," says Rey in horror. "We have to find him."

Ben stops suddenly and closes his eyes and she knows he's using the force to pinpoint Porg1. After a moment his eyes flutter open and he nods to their left.

"Over there."

They quickly head of in that direction, not bothering to be nice abut pushing past people. The direction changes as the thief does but Ben finds him again soon and then they're free of the market and diving into the sordid back streets of the town.

Free to move, they start running, both of them using the stamina they had picked up during their lifetimes to keep a fast pace going. In only a few moments they came up behind the man who was trotting away very quickly, holding Porg1 who seemed to have some sort of gag over his beak.

Rey was filled with rage but before she could react, Ben thrust out his hand and the man came to a sudden stop and then was lifted a few inches of the ground. Rey ran forward, snatched Porg1 out of the man's hand and then reared back and punched him in the face.

"How dare you?!" she said. "How dare you steal our friend?!"

The man stared at her eyes wide with terror and then Kylo was there, eyes, dark and hooded. The man's eyes widened even more and he began to struggle. Kylo reached out with his other hand and Rey said,

"No!"

He paused and then tilted his head to give her a shadowed look. Then he made a fist with his hand and pulled. The man gasped and another wave of his hand sent him unconscious.

"Ben!"

"I took his memories of us," he said, voice low and heavy and Rey relaxed. Porg 1 made a little sound and she quickly pulled of the gag and hugged him. The little creature churred pitifully and buried himself against her.

"Are you alright?" she asked. Porg1 just hid his head in her neck. After a moment Kylo came over and ran the back of his finger over Porg1's head soothingly until he calmed a little. Then Porg1 turned and made a shaky little flight over to Kylo who held him carefully in his arms and nodded to Rey who navigated them home, finding herself shaking a little as she realized just how close they'd come to losing Porg1.

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	7. Chapter 7

**Hope you all enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars.**

* * *

When they arrive home, Rey sits with Porg1 and strokes his feathers until he falls into an exhausted sleep. Kylo stands in a corner, head bowed, arms crossed, muscles standing out in his arms as he struggles not to destroy.

When Porg1 is asleep Kylo reaches out and crumples a chair with the force. It's not loud, he's obviously trying not to wake Porg1 but he pours out all his anger into the action. The chair crumples, bends and gets squeezed into a tight ball of metal. His hand is shaking, his face frozen in rage.

"Ben," she says softly, after a few minutes.

He turns his head to her like the motion hurts him and she can seethe rage shimmering in his eyes but beyond that, she can see the helplessness that triggers it. He is angry that he couldn't stop Porg1 from being captured, that he couldn't have found him sooner. She can see rage at himself for not being stronger, for being…enough.

She gets up, Porg1 cradled in an arm and walks over to him. He doesn't drop his arm, doesn't drop the chair, doesn't let the darkness wrapping around him dissipate. And Rey doesn't stop. She simply walks up to him and wraps her free arm around his shoulders and hugs him, Porg1 trapped between them in a warm, safe cocoon.

He doesn't move for a few seconds and then there is a clang behind her and his outstretched arm wraps itself around her. He grips her tightly and buries his face in her hair. His other arm wraps around her, gently this time, careful not to squeeze or jostle Porg1 and he holds them both for a long, long moment.

When he finally relaxes he pulls back a little and rests his forehead against hers.

"Are you okay?" he asks.

"Shaken," she replies. She doesn't ask how he is. She doesn't need to.

"They won't take him again," he says. "And if they try again. I'll kill them all."

Rey doesn't try to dissuade him. She knows there's nothing she can say that will change his mind.

"As long as you know I'll try to stop you," she says. He laughs softly, the sound sharp but not bitter.

"I know," he says. "We can fight once he's safe."

Rey sighs. "Okay."

Ben tilts his head to look at the sleeping Porg1 and she sees the slightest smile on his face.

"Should we put him to bed?"

"No way," Rey murmurs. "I'm not letting him out of my sight."

They fall asleep in her bed, sitting side by side, Porg1 nestled between both of them.

* * *

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	8. Chapter 8

**Hope you all enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars.**

* * *

It's on the mining planet of Zinath that their cover gets blown. Ben's working the transports that carry ore from the mines to the plants. Rey would have worked that too except that there had only been one job opening. Instead, she's put to work, crawling around the mines, handing out new canisters of water to the miners. Ben had offered to let her take the pilot's job but she knew that crawling around tunnels would have put him a foul mood and she didn't trust some poor miner not to set off his temper.

Rey is just beginning her climb up the mine shaft to collect more water when the mine rumbles dangerously. She manages to keep her grip but the next rumble causes her to lose it and she falls back a few feet onto the ground. Her breath leaves her in a whoosh and before she can get to her feet, there is a terrible shudder and the mine crumbles around her.

* * *

There is a horrible moment of silence as the mine seems to explode. Ren stares, motion less for half a second as he processes the fact that Rey was inside the mine. Then he is exploding into motion, running towards the site of the entrance. One of the other pilots, a young man named Kenny tries to hold him back.

"You can't go there!" he shouts, "it's unstable." Ren shots him such a dark look, Kenny releases his arm on instinct. Kylo resumes his run and behind him he hears Kenny following. He reaches the site of the mine entrance. Rey's alive, he can feel her. He'd know if she were dead.

"Rey!" he shouts, forgetting not to use her real name. "Rey!"

"Ben," she calls back. Her voice is weak but she's relatively close by.

"You can't reach her," said Kenny as Kylo moves forward, closer to edge of the mine shaft. "There's too many rocks. I don't even know how she's alive. You have to wait for equipment to get her out."

Kylo Ren ignores him. He puts out his hand and concentrates.

"What are you…." Kenny's voice trails off as the rocks begin to rise. Kylo pitches them behind him and jumps down to where Rey lies on the ground. She is already sitting up and he helps her stand. He can see the clearing of rocks around her and knows she must have used the force to shield herself, otherwise she'd have been crushed.

From the inside of the mine, faint voices come, but Kylo ignores them. Rey needs medical attention, she's favoring her right ankle badly, and they both need to get off world.

* * *

Ren starts to pull her towards the remnants of the ladder but Rey tugs him to a stop. "Ben we have to help them!" she said, pointing to the sounds of the other miners. The person who looks back at her has next to no mercy. This is Kylo Ren with just a hint of Ben Solo in him.

"Ben please!" she begs. She would do it herself but she's drained from throwing up the shield to protect herself, the concussion she got before she threw up her shield and her fractured ankle is clouding her mind. Besides Ben has had more training and this was going to be delicate.

"Please," she says again, while Kenny looks at them wide -eyed from above.

After a tense moment, Kylo finally turns to where the rest of the tunnels are, hidden by the fallen rocks. His shoulders drop and he seems to center himself and then he thrust out his arm. His jaw clenches and then slowly the rocks begin to move, to lift themselves away.

Rey watches a little stunned because this is almost twice the amount of rocks that she lifted on Crait. Ren shifts them away from the entrances and she hears stunned murmurs coming from people. Ben lifts more rocks, clearing them away from channels he cannot even see and then he has both hands thrust out suddenly. It takes Rey a moment to realize that he is holding up several support beams to prevent the rest of the tunnels from coming down as miners are streaming towards the entrance.

Most of the miners make it out but the last few lags as they are dragging their wounded comrades out. Ben's hands are shaking and his face is fixed in a snarl. His arms begin shaking more violently as he struggles to hold up the weight of the rocks for the last few to get out. Rey tries to help but a spike of pain darts through her head, leaving her gasping.

With a sharp hiss, Ben lets go on the rocks and the support beams and instead, grabs the stragglers and yanks them forward. The men fly forward, coming to a stop just before Ben just as the rocks collapse behind them, sealing the mines again. Ben opens his clenched hand and the able-bodied men drop but the wounded are rested gently.

Now that everyone is out of danger, the staring truly begins. There's no doubt who they can be. The aura Ben is carrying with him, the dark look in his eyes, tells them exactly who he and by extension who she is. Ben doesn't wait for the miners to make up their minds about what to do. He moves toward her and helps her up the ladder.

Kenny shrinks back from them as they appear. Rey glances apologetically at him and then Ben says, "Get on my back."

She complies and he takes of running. He gets her to his ship and they fly away.

* * *

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	9. Chapter 9

**I hope you all enjoy this one! Thanks to everyone who read, reviewed, favourited and followed!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars.**

* * *

They put down at their camp and Ben leaves her to quickly grab supplies and Porg1 and then they're on the move again. They head to the closest ship parking and manage to barter passage of planet with a cargo ship that looks like it definitely operates on the wrong side of the law.

The ship is leaving in fifteen minutes so Rey and Ben bundle up their meager belongings and Ben half carries her into the ship and the berth he'd managed to procure for them. It's not much and after a moment Rey realizes that he's only gotten one room from the both of them.

"Sorry," he says as he settles her on the bunk. "We didn't' have enough for separate rooms."

"It's okay," she says wincing as she jostles her ankle. Prog1 churrs inquiringly at her and she takes him into her lap and smooths down his feathers.

"It's okay little one, I just hurt my ankle that's all."

"You hurt a lot more than that!" Ben growled. He ripped open a bacta patch and wrapped it around her ankle, hands working gently in direct contraction to his rough words.

"Where else?" he asks curtly.

"That's the worst of it," Rey told him. His head shot up and he glared at her.

"Is that what I asked?" he said voice silky with anger.

"My back," Rey says after a moment. "I fell of the ladder."

She shifts on the bed to put her back to him and he rolls up the back of her tunic and supplies bacta numb and then slathers more patches across the blue-black spots blooming on her skin. She tugs down her tunic when he's done and was about to turn when he stopped her and pushes searching fingers through her hair. She hisses after a moment and he pulls his hand out and shows her the smear of blood on his fingers.

Porg1 lets out a horrified little chirp at the sight of the blood and buried his head in Rey's chest. Then he moved back and began bouncing up and down on her lap, flapping his wings and chirping furiously at Ben as if to say, 'Fix it! Now!'

Ben sneers at him but is already moving, sorting through their limited med kit for sterilizing wipes. He cleans the cut out thoroughly and then uses their limited bacta spray to seal it. Porg1 watches the proceeding with a laser focus and rubs his head against her cheek every time she flinches even a little. When Ben is done, Porg1 gently threads his beak through her hair to see her injury. He studies it and then gives a little chirp as if satisfied that she's taken care of. He hops of her shoulder and back into her arms and keeps rubbing his head against her cheek reassuringly.

The ship vibrates and Rey braces herself for takeoff. To her surprise Ben's arms slide around her from behind and he holds her firmly against his chest, bracing both of them through the g-forces of cutting through atmo. When they finally glide through space Rey expects him to release her but he doesn't.

He rests his forehead on her shoulder and says, "Don't you dare to anything like that again. If you leave me running from your resistance with only the bird I'll find you in the force and kill you myself." His arms tighten around her but not so much that he hurts her and Rey feels the fear from him. He'd been terrified that she'd died, that she'd left him alone, when she was the only person who did not make him feel alone.

"I won't," she says, covering his hands with hers. "I won't." Porg1 chirps softly and nuzzles at their connected hands.

* * *

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	10. Chapter 10

**I know it's been a long time. I hope you all enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars.**

* * *

Ben sleeps on the floor of their little room, while Porg1 sleeps on her wounded ankle acting as a warm pad for it. Rey spends most of the might awake, wondering how the other workers fared, about the families of those who they didn't manage to save. She wished she could have stayed behind, helped more. But the fear was too large.

Kylo Ren was a boogeyman, Rey herself was something not easily understood and no one quite trusted her anymore. She could only hope that the people they'd left behind would be okay. Ben shifts and jerks on the floor. Nightmares, though he's good about keeping his reactions small even when he's unconscious. Rey can guess what they are about today.

Loneliness is a horror that's bigger than the boogeyman because it's real. She and Ben are two of a kind, even on opposite sides. To be left alone, be the last, have no one there who can possibly know what hurts and motivations courses through your veins, is terrifying. His loss would be a hole that would echo through the rest of her life and never give her a reprieve. And the same was true for him, if she were to die.

"Sleep," she whispered to him, "I have the watch."

After a few movements his nightmare induced motions calm and he falls back into peaceful rest.

* * *

They're forced to reprogram the tech in Ben's face to restructure his appearance again. It's not fun but it has to be done. But since her own identity is blown, Rey has to get the tech as well. They manage to scrape up enough for the tech and then Rey braces herself while Ben implants it.

It hurts like hell and unlike Ben she can't keep silent. She grits her teeth and screams behind closed lips until he's done. He treats her wound and she falls into an exhausted doze with Porg1 snuggling up in concern, next to her.

The next few weeks are strange. Rey's face keeps shifting on her, giving her an odd molded appearance as the tech goes to work. Several times she wakes up to find parts of her face disproportioned to each other, her nose to big or her ears a tad bit too small.

"It's fine," Ben tells her as she pokes uncertainly at her face. "That's how it is. It'll even out."

"I guess," she says. "So what colour hair do you want now?"

He goes blond this time, (not actually his choice) and Rey cuts her hair down until it's as short as his and goes for a deep red. She looks strange and feels oddly exposed with her hair so short but she learns to deal with it. The resulting transformation leaves Ben looking almost delicate, (he always does, no matter what face he wears) and Rey looking tough and hard. They're an odd pair to look at and Rey think they probably should have accounted for that. People remember odd pairs.

Still there's nothing to do about it now so they do their best to fit in and take jobs that keep them fed but barely more than that. They rarely stay in one city for long. Since the mine, the search or them has been re-energized and they have to be careful. They even have to keep Porg1 under wraps because he's a dead giveaway. There are exactly two people in the galaxy who have porgs: Chewy and Rey.

Needless to say Porg1 isn't happy about it, and his and Ben's temper clash on occasion which makes Rey blow up at both of them. The fact that they're all tired of traveling, and hiding and of being worried about being found doesn't help in the slightest.

But on the days when Rey feels like she just wants to sit and have a good cry just to get all the frustration out of her system are the days when Ben holds her hand tightly in his and gives her courage to keep moving. The days when she achingly longs for a place she can call home are the ones that Porg1 snuggles up to her and makes her feel like she's in her own personal bubble.

The days when Ben is plagued with guilt because they're all on the run because of him, are the days when Rey hooks her arm through his and tells him she couldn't ask for a better friend. The days when Porg1 misses Achc-to are the days when Rey snaps of leaves from trees and gives them to him to remind him of the beautiful green hills.

She's seen Ben humming Porg1 to sleep as he smooths down his feathers and seen Porg1 singing Ben to sleep while threading his beak through Ben's hair.

It's on the worst days that they realize how much they all help each other and it's those days that help them get through the mundane ones full of grumpy humans and grumpier porgs, all trying to scratch out a living while not being caught.

Life, Rey thinks, is really strange.

* * *

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 _ **Have a nice day/night!**_


	11. Chapter 11

**I know it's been awhile. I hope you all enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars.**

* * *

"Seriously, give me one good reason why anyone should have joined the First Order," Rey said, one day. "As far as I could see it just involved a lot of people being afraid of each other."

"Well the First Order definitely had better food," Ben replied.

"That can't possibly be a reason," said Rey.

"Come to the dark side," said Ben lowering his voice, until it's deep and haunting seductive, drawing in anyone with its reward of power. "We have cookies."

Rey snorted with laughter. "Snoke did not give you cookies."

"He did once," said Ben.

"What? No, you're joking. You must be."

"No actually. He wanted us to taste something good, to be able to draw from our feelings of pleasure and happiness and passion from even the food we ate."

"The dark side has cookies," said Rey in a tone of horror.

Ben chuckled and linked his arm through hers. "You'll get over it."

* * *

Rey doesn't know what happened but one day she comes out of the refresher to find Ben holding Porg1 suspended in the air with the force.

"Ben!" she scolds and yanks his feet out from under him with one hand and uses the other to catch and bring Porg1 to her. Ben's on his feet in a moment.

"What were you thinking?!" she snapped.

"I wasn't hurting him!" he says, almost sulkily.

"You were scaring him!" she said. "He's a porg Ben. Really," she adds disappointedly. She holds out Porg1. "Apologize."

"What?!" Ben snarls in disbelief.

"Apologize," she insists.

"That little…" he begins grinding his teeth together but Rey sets her jaw and he stops. After a moment of contained fury he says graciously to Porg1. "My apologies Porg1."

Porg1 chirps a little frightenedly and then snuggles up to Rey. Ren storms out the apartment.

"What did you do?" Rey asks Porg1 but he doesn't even try to answer.

When Ben comes back in much later, Porg1 hesitantly flutters over to him and nuzzles his cheek. Ben's shoulders tense but after a moment he lifts a hand and rubs it down Porg1's head and back.

Rey breathes a sigh of relief.

It's late in the night and Prog1 has been asleep for some hours cradled in the crook of Ben's arm when Ben gets up, carefully holding the little creature and settles down opposite her at the table. After a moment of strained hesitiance he says, "I'm sorry. For earlier. It's just…" He clenches his jaw. "So hard sometimes. I have never had to fight my rage before."

Rey, still a little miffed at him, deflates. "I know how that is," she said. "I've never really had to fight my rage either."

"But you never had the rage I do, simmering in your breast," he said, darkly.

"You're right," she said, because he was. Rey had accepted her fate and the most she'd known was despair or desolation, not rage. But there was more. Ben was a dark force user. He still is a dark force user and neither of them had attempted to change that. Rey because she knew that she couldn't, that choice had to be Ben's. Ben because he didn't want to. Rey thought that the Jedi of old would have been horrified but she knew, knew there was balance in light and dark, felt that balance in every moment they spent together and wondered in the secret part of her mind if the dark had always been this way or if the siths had twisted the true meaning of the dark until it was all evil and murder.

"But Ben, you use the dark side of the force, rage is a part of it but so is control. You control that rage, use it. It doesn't use you. And you're good at it."

Ben looked up startled.

"I'm not condoning frightening poor Porg1," and Ben grimaced as if her were ashamed. "But I understand that that rage is part of you. I just…the ability to control it is part of you too. And it's a part you're really, really good at. So, what I'm trying to say is: have faith in your own abilities. I have perfect faith that your rage will never outstrip your control."

Ben eyed her, no Kylo eyed her. The man at the other end of the table was a force to be reckoned with, he was the dark knight that had battled her in the forest, he was the man who'd held out his hand to her, he was the deadly friend she'd made over those hours of long connection.

"That," he said with a calmness that was hair-raising, "is a poor assumption."

Rey smiled at him and held out her hand, "Then I'm willing to be foolish in this. Because I'm not perfect either but you always believe the best in me. You always believe that I will be good and kind and, and so much better than I am and you have no idea how much that faith bolsters me. If I must be foolish to repay you in kind, Kylo then I have no scruples in being a fool."

There was silence and then he reached out slowly and took her hand. "We're both fools," he said, but his eyes were brighter and Rey felt the force hmm between them, felt the world balance around their shared hands.

* * *

They find out the resistance, well the republic now, is coming to the planet they're on quite by chance but the news is enough to make them both panic. They need to get off world but their credits are running low and Natchit's port authorities are strict. Sneaking on board and then remaining undiscovered is going be very difficult. Sure, they can make people forget they've ever seen them but Rey hates messing with people's memories, she's bad enough at it because of that and she thinks it best not to tempt fate by letting Ben do it. He's too steeped in the dark already.

In truth it's best of they can do it legally. Much quieter and less chance of failure but it also leaves a trail behind them. Not as much as being traced due to being caught as stowaways would though. Either of them like leaving that much in the open either so they're on their third option: go through the black ships that have an agreement with certain authorities in Natchit's port. But such an option is hideously expensive and they have precisely one day to get enough credits.

Ben is the one who finds the solution.

"No!" Rey says when she hears.

"Well then we stowaway," he says, "Because we don't even have enough credits to travel legally." Rey slumps.

"Arena fights," she says. "Old gladiator style."

"Two champions each night. The double prize will be enough for both of us and Porg1."

"This is crazy," Rey says scrubbing her fingers through her short red hair.

"I'm fairly certain we're both well versed in crazy by now," Kylo observes.

"Not this crazy," she says heatedly and then sighs. "Fine. Fine but if you lose your fights I'm never letting you live it down."

"What!" he said startled. "You do know I've trained to fight for most of my life."

"I know," she said in a mock-mournful voice, "You're starting with a severe disadvantage and I can't even help you."

He blinks and then the corner of his mouth twitches slightly. "I'll try not to disappoint you," he deadpans and Rey huffs out a laugh and then takes a deep breath to center herself.

"You know we can both die right?" she asked.

"So, any other day?" he asks and Rey sighs.

"Yeah."

* * *

They find a safe place for Porg1 to wait out the night while they fight and then they go to sign up for the fights. Both competitions run at the same time, alternating fights until the champion of each groups defeats all their opponents.

They're placed in large cell like areas with bars keeping them out of the area and keeping both groups of fighters separated from each other. Rey finds Ben through the bars and links her fingers through his as much as she can.

He says, "Good luck. Don't die."

"May the force be with you," she says.

"May the force be with you," he replies squeezing her fingers lightly and then the matches begin.

* * *

 _ **Have a nice day/night!**_


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